


A different kind of strength

by IndigoSeal



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Development, Gen, Magical Creatures, Potential Romance, but no smut, past cannon relationships, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 04:02:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19715836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoSeal/pseuds/IndigoSeal
Summary: Whilst the Golden Trio are on their hunt for horcruxes, Luna, Neville and Ginny take over the fight against Death Eater rule.





	A different kind of strength

**Author's Note:**

> This story isn't dark, but there is a lot of war and bigotry as a general rule- I will leave any specific trigger warnings in the notes before each chapter.

[LUNA]

Hogwarts has never been so quiet. Shuffling feet and urgent whispers fill the gap where there used to be screams of laughter and a thousand conversations all at the same time.

  
Luna has never seen so many wrackspurts; they crowd around the distracted minds of the students and Professors alike. Suspicion is heavy in the air. The first years travel in packs and startle at small noises, the older years have wands outstretched and hardened expressions.

  
As the Death Eater in Auror robes escorts Luna to Snape’s office, she wonders how on earth they were going to convince these people to join a secret defence club.

  
“Miss Lovegood” Snape drawls when she enters the head’s office. Snape hasn’t changed it that much in the short time he has been here and Luna is momentarily lost in the memory of the single time she visited the office when its former owner occupied it. Serene silver and piercing blue. The tinkling of the headmaster’s many projects and a smell of sugar. Dumbledore had a gift in creating an image people could trust.

  
“Professor” Luna greets him politely, before remembering that this was the man who let the Death Eaters into a school.

  
“We have a few questions for you. I seem to recall you being close to some of our students who have yet to turn up to their compulsory education.” Snape gives a twitch of his lips that could be interpreted as an attempt at a smile “We only wish to make sure they’re okay, and find out why they have decided to terminate their schooling at such an important year.”

  
It’s easy enough to decline knowledge about the first few names. She genuinely doesn’t know, although she can guess quite easily. When the Golden trio are brought up, she remains almost as honest.

  
“Hmmm, Ginny told me he was very ill. Poor Ronald, I really hope he gets better soon”

  
“No, I don’t know where Hermione could be. I wish I knew, I’d love to talk to her. Daddy found proof of a Crumple Horn Snorcack and I’d love to show it to her”

  
“No I am worried about Harry though. All these posters and articles claiming he killed Dumbledore and they want to question him when we all know-“

  
“Enough” Snape says quickly, cutting Luna off. “I thought they were your friends. I seem to recall a certain… field trip you took with the three of them”

  
“They are my friends” Luna replies brightly “Though they tend not to include me in most things.”

  
Snape looks like he doesn’t know how to reply to that, which is a reaction a lot of people have to what she says. Though she honestly can’t think why in this instance.

  
“Is that all?” Luna asks innocently.

  
“Yes Ms Lovegood” He sighs

  
“Bye Professor. Bye Polge” Luna waves at the professor and death eater as she glides out of the office, almost walking into a furious looking Ginny.

  
She gives a small smile to the red head, ignoring the sounds of Polge muttering frantically to Snape, probably wondering how she recognised him with the auror mask. Good- she hopes they’re distracted when talking to Ginny. She looks as though she’s going to kill them.

  
[GINNY]

  
Ginny shakes off the hand on her shoulder and strides into the room, claiming the chair opposite Snape and the man in deep auror red. The auror that escorted her has opted to wait outside, presumably because of the earful she got from Ginny on the way here.

  
From Luna’s casualness and the bigots’s expressions, she told them nothing. Ginny makes a mental note to keep her tongue under control for this little interrogation. She has been known to let things slip.

  
“Miss Weasley. Thanks for coming in” Snape says blandly, and that makes her immediately forget her promise to keep quiet. How dare he act like nothing has changed!

  
“Snivellus.” She cuts back, relishing the way his face tightens and mentally thanking Sirius for the tip “you look awful. I hope the guilt from killing a man who trusted you is hitting home.”

  
“We’ve called you here to inquire about the whereabouts of your brother and his friends” Snape's voice is measured, but could that be anger in those cold, black eyes?

  
“I’m afraid my brother is ill. And I don’t know about his friends. But if they had any sense, they would be out of this shithole of a country”

  
The auror and Snape share a look, the latter looking notably angry now despite his famous poker face. Ginny feels a vicious sense of triumph- the traitor deserves to be angry after what he did. Then he changes tactic, and the triumph is gone in a second.

  
“I understand that the number one undesirable is your ex-boyfriend?” Ginny suppresses a groan; of course they knew. They may as well have kept up the relationship.

  
“We broke up, so your hostage plan won’t work” she says instead “and even if you manage to kidnap me, you have my family to battle first”

  
“No one said anything about kidnapping, Miss Weasley” the auror soothes “we’re on your side here. We want to find these friends of yours for their own good” Snape’s sneer contradicts his partners’ words.

  
Ginny cannot suppress a snort. Both of them look mutinous, and she realises a little late that she has given them the idea of using her as a hostage, and then made them angry.

Whoops?

  
The auror pulls out a vial of clear liquid, and all eyes are pulled towards it.

  
“Miss Ginneva Weasley, we have reason to believe that you are guilty of withholding information from the aurors that could be used to aid justice. With your consent, we’d like you to take veritaisment and repeat what you just told us. If it turns out you are not lying to an auror, the Ministry will apologise for false accusations. If our suspicions are right, you will await trial. If you refuse, you will also await trial”

  
The auror says all this in a bored tone of someone who has repeated it many times over, but Ginny’s heart has never beaten so fast. Shit.

  
She weighs her options. For the first time since they left, she’s glad she knows virtually nothing. But virtually nothing is still too much- there are some things best kept quiet.

Take the Veritaisment and she might let it slip that Ron is not sick. Don’t take the veritasment and she has more time to warn her family. It’s an easy choice- Azkaban wouldn’t be too bad now anyway, without the dementors.

  
She opens her mouth to tell them her decision and also to go fuck themselves, for good measure, when she catches a look of total condescension in Snape’s eyes. He knows what she’s going to choose.

  
Her eyes widen. It’s probably a bluff! Real veritasment is so expensive- they wouldn’t waste it on her.

  
“I accept” she says, mimicking the bored tone the auror used and holding out her hand for the vial.

  
It’s the first time Snape has ever looked anything but disdainful in Ginny’s memory. His surprise is almost obvious.

  
The auror carefully places it in her palm.

  
“Last chance to reconsider” he tells her.

  
“I know” she smiles sweetly, uncorking it and refusing to doubt her admittedly reckless plan.

  
As she goes to down it, a voice sneers “Stop” and Ginny barely manages to hold in her sigh of relief. She makes a show of lowering the bottle slowly and raising her eyebrow.  
“What Snivellus?” she taunts.

  
“We believe you.” The words seem to cause the old potion master physical pain.

  
“That’s wonderful.” she gives a mocking salute, getting slightly carried away.

  
“You may go. I advise you watch your tongue in the future” the auror snaps, unaware of how difficult such a task is for Ginny.

  
Her steps are clipped as she strides to the door and out as quickly as possible.

  
[NEVILLE]

  
Ginny didn’t even see him waiting next to the gargoyles as she stormed out of the office. He would call out, ask her what it was about, but the auror by his side prevents that.

  
He is aware that it’s an interrogation of sorts, probably into Harry’s whereabouts. Neville is terrified; he knows absolutely nothing, yet he’ll probably manage to let something slip anyway.

  
Actually, if Luna and Ginny have been questioned already, it might not be about the Golden trio. A new wave of fears hit him; visions of the DA dying before they can even restart it. The fact it is the second day of term and they haven’t done anything yet doesn’t occur to Neville until later.

  
He has never been up this winding staircase into the peculiarly shaped office, but he has seen that face before. Severus Snape; the man who tormented Neville for years. He even showed up in his nightmares until his snide voice was replaced by the mad laughter of Bellatrix Lestrange. Neville forces himself to sit down on the chair in front of the desk, forces himself to look into the man’s black eyes. ‘This was the last thing Professor Dumbledore saw’ Neville thinks unhelpfully.

  
“Mr Longbottom. We wanted to ask some questions regarding your friends” The ‘Mr Longbottom’ is in the exact same tone the man used to use before insulting him.

  
“Of course” Neville is pleased to note that there is no squeak present in his voice today.

  
“Do you know the whereabouts of Mr Potter, Mr Weasley or Miss Granger?” Snape asks bluntly, clearly not expecting much. His eyes say ‘I am wasting my time asking you’, which hurts despite the fact he is completely right.

  
“No.” At Snape’s hard look, Neville feels compelled to elaborate “They left in August and haven’t been seen since”

  
“Any suspicions” His ex-professor drawls.

  
“Probably out of the Country” Neville says nervously. These people need to work on their interrogation skills.

  
“Very well. You may go” Snape says tiredly, glancing slightly to his left, and Neville follows his gaze. There is an ornate sword with a ruby encrusted hilt hanging on the wall proudly. Neville never thought he would ever find a sword ‘beautiful’, but there was no other word for the way it glittered in the light and seemed to exude power. He felt drawn to it, the ancient magic resonating with his. Could it be the legendary sword? Neville suddenly recalls something Ginny told him on the train; Dumbledore wanted Harry to have the sword of Gryffindor. It might be essential for the Voldemort destroying mission Ginny hinted towards.

  
The auror is glaring at Neville, who hasn’t moved for a good thirty seconds. He hastily makes an exit, still thinking about the sword.

  
He has a mission for the DA, and it’s going to be borderline impossible.

[GINNY]

Ginny decides not to go back to herbology after the near disaster that was the interrogation. She is instead brooding in the armchair by the fire in the empty common room, a much more productive use of her time in her opinion.

  
She is still fuming when Neville sits in the arm chair opposite her, his earnest face shining with nervous excitement.

  
“No” She says flatly. She knows that look. It’s the same expression Fred and George wore when they were about to fly out of the castle on Cleansweeps.

  
“I didn’t even say anything” Neville protests.

  
“You were about to” Ginny points out, making to stand “they almost found out something really important today because I did something dangerous! I’m not going to tempt fate and be a part of whatever suicidal idea you have.”

  
“Can you at least hear me out? It doesn’t have to even involve you” He looks so hopeful that Ginny pauses. She casts a quick muffliato, despite the fact that there is literally no one else in the room.

  
“You have thirty seconds to convince me” She tells him, and he lights up.

  
“Gryffindor’s sword is in Snape’s office” He says quickly, and she blinks.

  
“Is it actually?” The Weasley’s have suspected that the sword is important for Harry’s mission with Voldemort ever since Dumbledore left it to him. Her Dad had done some digging but found no record of the sword being kept anywhere in the Ministry after Schrimgeor confiscated it. It makes sense it’s at Hogwarts, but the Headmasters office has notoriously high level security. She starts pacing absently, Neville’s eyes tracking her path wearily.

  
“Do you reckon Harry and the others will come to Hogwarts to get it?” Ginny asks, anticipating the answer before he gives it.

  
“Probably! If it is that important…”

  
“How will we get it to them?” Ginny says boldly and Neville laughs at her change of tone. She pauses her pacing to glare at him. “Listen, this could help us win the war-” She begins heatedly

  
Neville raises his hands in a placating gesture “We’re on the same team Ginny” He points out “Save the hate for the death eaters.” She gives him a blazing look, and he answers the question “I don’t know how to even find them, but we have to figure that out if we’re going to steal it”

  
“We should call a DA meeting” She says slowly, biting her lip and resuming her pacing “We don’t have to tell them the Golden trio thing, it could be dangerous. They might guess what my brother and his friends are up to, or set up a guard for when they come for it.”

  
“That’s what I was thinking.” Neville says seriously “we could tell them it’s a protest thing or something. ‘Take the mark of Gryffindor out of the den of Slytherin’, ‘take something from right under their noses’. I don’t know, but many people would be down if it means getting one up on Snape.”

  
“Neville, you’re a genius” Ginny tells him bluntly, and he flushes brilliantly.

  
Hermione had given her galleon to Ginny, teaching her the various charms used to change the message during the weeks they shared a room together. Halfway to her dormitory, Ginny freezes at the sound of the portrait hole opening, and turns towards the wall with a thousand different scenarios bursting through her mind in quick succession. She relaxes when it is only Seamus, looking dazed and… smoking lightly?

  
“What happened to you?” She gasps, taking in the smell of burnt hair and soot covered shirt.

  
“What?” Seamus asks meekly, and Ginny hastily ends the muffliato charm.

  
“Seamus, did you ACTUALLY just set Snape’s office on fire?” Neville sounds both awed and amused.

  
“Yeah” Seamus says sheepishly “I don’t even know how”

  
Ginny walks over to him and grabs the boys’ forearm, dragging him to the chair next to Neville. “We need to know the full story” Ginny grins whilst Neville nods eagerly in agreement. Seamus, on the other hand, looks resigned.

  
“They asked me where Dean was” Seamus says after a moment, with a brave attempt at a light hearted tone. Neville’s smile vanishes instantly and is replaced by a look of concern, and Ginny is kicking herself for not just letting him go up to his dormitory and tell them in his own time. Seamus stares wistfully at an empty armchair, probably imagining his boyfriend sitting there with them.

  
“What did you tell them?” Ginny asks softly. Neville gives her a warning look as he takes the unusually quiet boy’s hand, squeezing reassuringly.

  
Seamus shrugs “The truth. I genuinely don’t know.” His voice goes quiet and angry “But then they started talking about how they needed to know because there was a chance he had stolen magic from me and that he needed to be investigated, and I don’t know. I just exploded. Literally.” He gestures to his appearance.

  
“Those bastards.” Ginny hisses as Neville’s face whitens “I hope you set fire to every slimy thing in that traitor’s office and they’re all currently dying slowly from the fumes”

  
There is a moment of silence where Neville is glaring at her in a ‘stop talking’ sort of way. Then Seamus’s forlorn expression morphs into a small smile.

  
“I can see why Dean was so infatuated by you at the beginning of last year” Seamus tells her, the tension in the room diffusing at once.

  
“Everyone is infatuated by me” Ginny says lightly, and Neville snorts.

  
She throws a pillow at him, and he throws one back and this accidentally starts the most violent pillow fight ever to grace Gryffindor tower. Seamus takes a few seconds before he joins in, but when he does, he is especially vicious. He introduces the concept of rugby tackling; something both Neville and Ginny are ill-prepared for being raised in pureblood houses. Ginny quickly gets the hang of it, wondering where this skill has been all her life.

  
Twenty minutes later they are sore and exhausted, but their smiles are genuine.

  
“Seamus, how would you like to help us steal the sword of Gryffindor from Snape’s office?” Neville asks as the bell rings. Ginny holds her breath from her armchair.

  
“Why?”

  
“Because something from Gryffindor shouldn’t be in the office of such a coward” Ginny tells him firmly.

  
“I would love to” Seamus grins

[NEVILLE]

The room of requirement has arranged itself differently from how Neville remembers it from fifth year. The room was more suited to a hideaway for a large group of people on the run than a defence class, which Neville finds a bit ominous, as if the castle is trying to tell them something. It even has hammocks and beds to sleep in.

  
Ginny had crafted a simple message, and the galleons have burned as much as ever. It’s just a case of who will risk the tightened rules and death eater attention to make it.

  
Luna is the first there to meet Seamus, Ginny and Neville, looking as if she found the place by accident. After a cheerful greeting at odds with the grim determination of the rest of the group, she claims a hammock, taking out a copy of the Quibbler. A portrait of Harry looking particularly heroic is plastered on the front, and Neville can make out several anti-death-eater headlines. The sight is inspiring, but Neville can’t help but wonder how long it will last.

  
Then Hannah Abbott creeps in with a fading disillusionment charm, followed by half of Hufflepuff house. Smaller groups of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws follow, claiming spots along the side of the room and talking quietly. It’s the largest crowd Neville has ever seen in this room. He even recognises a few second years.

  
As soon as the door closes behind Padma, everyone starts talking at once. Neville can make sense of snippets, head still reeling from how full the room is.

  
“These people can destroy our lives” A high pitched voice says anxiously. Neville thinks it might be a second year.

  
“…. We can kill the Carrows” Someone drawls

  
“I don’t see the point of learning patronus’s this year. We need curses” Someone else manages over the general hum of conversation

  
“We don’t have a teacher!” Another person screams

  
“SHUT UP” Ginny roars and silence slowly falls. “You’re all here aren’t you? You don’t have to be. Most of you aren’t even members”

  
“We want to know what you’re planning to do about the whole death eater situation. And if we can help” A brave fourth year pipes up.

  
Neville, Ginny and Seamus look at one another, realising all at the same time that they haven’t ever planned for a large number of non-members. It was so much more likely to get back to Snape this way.

  
“Um” Neville says to the crowd “For security reasons, we will need all of you to sign a new... members sheet of sorts?” At the sudden uproar, he quickly adds “It’ll just be a… magical contract that means you will be hexed if you try to talk about this group with someone... Anyone who isn’t a member.”

  
“And you’ll lose your voice if you try to mention it to a Slytherin or death eater supporter. Permanently.” Ginny adds, glaring around the room. Many people look terrified, some of them inching towards the exit.

  
“What about the people who were already members?” A haughty voice calls. Neville grits his teeth when he realises it belongs to Zacharias Smith.

  
“Judging by the fact there are so many non-members here tonight, the last jinx wasn’t permanent. So um.. We’ll need you to sign again today.” Neville tells him apologetically.

  
“Preposterous!” Smith stutters, glaring at the three of them “Who made you guys leaders anyway?! I say we vote on it!”

  
From the muttering Neville can make out, many people are in agreement.

  
“He has a point”

  
“I’m not being taught by Harry Potter’s rejects… His ex-girlfriend and the guys in his dormitory who he never hung out with”

  
“Longbottom couldn’t even stand up to Snape in potions, he had to rely on Granger”

  
“Weaslette has anger problems honestly. Remember that fight she got into with Romilda?”

  
“Finnegan will set this place on fire!”

  
“I’m not saying they’re bad, but there are better people honestly”

  
Neville tries to ignore them. He never once thought that there would be too many people at the meeting, or that they would spend so much time trying to get everyone settled. He has half a mind to give up on the army all together, to follow the people skirting towards the door. Ginny on his left looks as if she’s about to yell at them all, which doesn’t seem like the best course of action here. He places a calming hand on her shoulder and she shakes it off furiously. Before she can speak however, a commanding voice quiets the crowd.

  
“Everyone be quiet. We are here to talk about real enemies and what we can do about them, not fight over who gets to be leader. This army is a far bigger deal than it was during Umbridge’s little reign, and I will not see it get torn apart now!”

  
As the crowd murmurs its agreement, Neville scans the crowd to find the girl who just saved both his will to live and the fate of Dumbledore’s army. He locks eyes with her, giving Padma a grateful smile. She looks at him pointedly, as if saying ‘well, get on with it then’.

  
“We... we called this meeting because we have a few ideas we wanted some input on, not to push you all around or anything.” Neville says loudly, mouth suddenly dry. His tongue feels too large for his mouth and... was he sweating? How did he think this was a good idea? Somehow, having people actively listening to him was harder than speaking over them. He forces himself to keep talking. “But we... need- have to insist on everyone signing the parchment... to stop news of this meeting getting out. Um.. Some of these ideas could get all of us and our families in trouble for just talking about them... If you don’t want to be associated with that, well...feel free to leave now but... but please keep what you do know to yourselves.”

  
Several people left at that, Ginny’s suspicious glare following them out.

  
“Okay, so am I right in assuming all of you want to become members?” she asks the rest of them, voice sharp

  
“One question” Hannah Abbott says, half raising her hand in the air. “The silence curse you’ll put on the parchment. Will this be activated if Snape uses truth serums on us? Or some other form of interrogation?”

  
“Yes.” Seamus says decisively, whilst Neville is still figuring out how to respond after that cold dose of reality “The actual curse wouldn’t be painful or anything, it would just stop you from talking until the caster” He gestures to Ginny “removes it. They would need a particularly skilled curse breaker to break it without her”

  
“What about other forms of communication? Like writing it down or legitimus?” Hannah says biting her lip “I wouldn’t ask, it’s just I want this to be protected as much as possible…”

  
There is a pause “We haven’t thought of that.” Seamus admits

  
“That can be out first task as a group.” Ginny says with a flippant wave of her hand “Now if you could all sign the parchment so we can actually get down to the meeting, I’d be grateful”

  
Every single person signs the parchment. Neville pockets it carefully, meeting the determined and suspicious eyes of each of the fifty eight members with a level look.

  
“Thank you everyone for coming to the first DA meeting of the year” He starts “uh… Please take a seat on one of the cushions”

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first chapter of my first ever story... Hope you all liked it :)  
> I could really do with some tips so feel free to leave any criticism, but nice criticism please


End file.
